The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

Federal authorities at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and nationwide businesses have announced a massive recall of window shades and blinds blamed for the deaths of three children and the near deaths of seven more. Five and a half million of the Roman shades, cellular shades, roll-up blinds and traditional blinds have cords that children may strangle on.

The deaths include a one-year-old boy who strangled when the cord of a roll-up blind fell into his crib, another one-year-old whose head was caught between the inner part of the cord and the cloth on the backside of a Roman shade, and a four-year-old girl who was strangled in the vertical loop of a vertical-blind cord. The three deaths occurred in 2006 and 2007.

Six of the near strangulations involved Roman shades from Pottery Barn Kids, and one involved IKEA Roman blinds. The mother in the latter case found her two-year-old actually hanging from the looped bead chain of the blinds.

The U.S. CPSC urges replacement of the following recalled types of blinds:

• Lewis Hyman Inc. Oval Roll-up Blinds and Woolrich Roman Shades sold at Target stores nationwide and at target.com from March 2006 to December 2008
• Lutron Shading Solutions Roller Shades sold through specialty dealers and at Expo Design Centers nationwide from January 2000 to April 2009
• Victoria Classics Thermal Sailcloth and Matchstick Bamboo Roman Shades sold at Target stores nationwide and at target.com from September 2008 to June 2009
• IKEA MELINA Roman Blinds sold at IKEA Home Furnishings nationwide from August 2006 to June 2008
• Pottery Barn Kids Roman Shades sold through Pottery Barn Kids catalog nationwide and at paterybarnkids.com from January 2003 to May 2007
• Vertical Land Inc. Horizontal and Vertical Blinds and Cellular Shades sold at Vertical Land stores in Panama City and Pensacola Florida from January 1992 to December 2006

Contact the companies to find out more details about these potentially deadly products. If your child has been injured by a recalled product, please contact the experienced defective product attorneys at the Cochran Firm today. We serve clients nationwide.

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